Xylan is one of the ubiquitous, naturally occurring polysaccharides, and is a major constituent of plants. From a structural viewpoint, xylan is a macromolecular polysaccharide containing a main chain made from units of xylose, which is polymerized by β-1,4 xyloside linkage. Xylan is present in nature as a homoxylan consisting of only xylose, and as a heteroxylan such as arabinoxylan having a structure in which arabinose is branched from the main chain.
Xylanase is a generic term for a group of enzymes that hydrolyze xylan, and that are widely found in animals, plants, and microorganisms. There has been research largely focusing on xylanase derived from bacteria, actinomycetes, yeast, fungi, and the like. Xylanase is used in the production of xylooligosaccharides or xylose from xylan, as well as in biomass processing. In particular, xylanase has recently been brought to attention as being useful from the point of view of enzyme utilization in plant biomass processing, such as lignocellulose. For example, xylanase is used in the enzymatic degradation of agricultural waste for alcohol fuels, enzymatic treatment for liberating saccharides in animal feed, enzymatic treatment for dissolving pulp in the step of obtaining cellulose, and enzymatic treatment for bleaching wood pulp. Xylanase is also used in animal feed and in the food-processing field (JPH06-261750A).
Talaromyces (former name: Acremonium) cellulolyticus CF-2612 strain is reported to produce a high level of xylanase (hereinafter “Xyl10A”) upon induction by cellulose (NPL 1).